From February 14 to April 23, 2023
WEBWIRE – Monday, December 26, 2022
Paul Strand
Born in New York, Paul Strand (1890-1976) began studying with the social photographer Lewis Hine and later became close friends with Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and pioneer in the introduction of modern art in the United States. Strand managed to merge these two trends and continued to explore until laying the foundations of modern photography and anticipating what in later years will be known as straight photography. His knowledge of contemporary art derived from his personal contacts with artists and art theorists, his intuition and his powers of synthesis all led him to create a body of work outside of his own time.
An exhibitionorganized by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson with the collections of theFundacin MAPFRE, Madrid.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helen Levitt – Mexico
In 1934, Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) signed up for a French ethnographic mission which was supposed to take him to Argentina. In the end, the mission was suspended and the twenty-six- year-old photographer spent a year in Mexico, literally fascinated by the country. In March 1935, he left Mexico City for New York to prepare the exhibitionDocumentary and Anti-Graphic Photographs at the Julien Levy Gallery, featuring many of his Mexican photographs. Helen Levitt met him (together with Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Walker Evans) at the time of this exhibition and helps him to make his prints. The exhibition left a deep impression on her and confirmed her desire to become a photographer. Helen Levitt then began to photograph New York and became the assistant of Walker Evans. In 1941, she set off to Mexico where she was to spend several months. I would never have decided to go to Mexico without having seen Henri Cartier- Bressons images. Equipped with a Leica, she produced the only major body of work created outside of NYC, on the only trip she has ever undertaken.
The Fondation HCB will be closed to the public from 30 January to 13 February 2023 included.